Please describe your proposed solution.

Cardano is secure, decentralised, scalable, smart contract compatible, self governed and easy to use.

If the above sentence is true why is it so difficult to attract people onto Cardano?

Cardano has an image problem, and a big brother in Ethereum that is the "popular sibling in the school" who overshadows us.

NFTs have proven to be the biggest on-boarding technology for blockchain in recent years, the use cases are numerous and will continue to develop to reach every part of our lives over the next 5-10 years.

While Ethereum has the reputation, liquidity and seniority for NFTs, Cardano is utility KING.

We consider an NFT as a blank canvas to be used to connect in real life network, services and products (such as art, ticketing, merch) to an audience around the world, with no red tape.

We believe blockchain and NFTs are the future of our economic and social systems.

Our vision is to provide the tools and know-how to empower individuals and businesses that we work with to take a concept or an idea and use Cardano's technology to deliver to a global audience.

We will do this by:

• (B2C) Business to Creator- We will recruit, guide, educate and onboard through: workshops, consultations and management for creatives that have an interest in blockchain and NFTs. "Artists" include, musicians, painters, illustrators, writers and any form of creative expression.
• (B2B) Business to Business - We will be enabling business to extend their existing Physical model with the aid of Cardano NFT integration. This will be delivered through offering consultations, workshops, project management and marketing services to businesses.

Once Self Sustaining (we expect to reach this stage in 3 months) we will be reinvesting in expanding the team with a researcher and community HR.

How will we do it?

Time. We need time.

Our experience has developed the 3 key skills that will be needed to succeed.

1. We've done this before. We have both lead teams in a startup environment in the past and so understand the need to learn, work hard, be adaptable and keep a positive mental attitude to the work we do.
2. We have also been working in the Cardano NFT community for 9 months now, helping to develop projects, understanding what works what doesn't, and can humbly say we have a good understanding of NFT technology and use cases beyond uses in Art.
3. We have a vast network. We know creatives and business owners that are open to Blockchain.
4. We are committed. We are personally invested in many projects in the NFT ecosystem. We are passionate about bringing others into the Cardano community and sharing the knowledge of how we can use Cardano to create wealth for ourselves and others.

Building in uncertain times with real world responsibilities.

We believe 6 months will give us the time to create a self sustaining business focused specifically on onboarding to Cardano

With the Catalyst funds we will receive the necessary time to create a self sustaining and cash positive Cardano NFT agency.

over this period we will deliver:

6 businesses onboarded to Blockchain through Cardano NFTs.

At least 24 In physical artist onboarded to Blockchain through Cardano NFTs.

Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Our Agency will provide services that completely remove any doubt surrounding using the Cardano blockchain.

For those who don’t know where to start or how to navigate through the blockchain, we offer guidance. We offer traditional creators with the tools and the knowledge to move past ideation to implementation.

The only thing we need from our carefully selected creators/ businesses is the idea and from there, we will demonstrate how to use the Cardano blockchain to create value.

What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

The current economic and Crypto markets and uncertainty about the future markets conditions, are a big challenge to overcome.

Many businesses may feel now just isn't the right time.

The magnifies the real risk of the project being closed because of insufficient cash flow.

In the case that cash flow becomes a problem, we would have to scale back the time invested in this model and our b2c model would be the focus.

Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Phase 1: Foundation.

Currently: Brand design, website design and business plan design.

July - September: Networking, Workshops and consultations. This time will be used to demonstrate value, we will be focusing on delivering free educational workshops, business consultations and attending as many NFT events as we can to highlight the advantages of Cardano over the most popular blockchains.

Onboard 2 businesses

Onboard 9 artists

Phases 2: Self sustainability.

Oct-Dec: Infrastructure. Cashflow. DAO. This period is where we expand our team to fill key positions in accounting, and marketing. The focus in this phase is generating a positive cashflow and establishing a LLC in real world.

Phase 3: Growth.

Dec - March 2023.

Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Salary: 24,000

=2,000 USD per month (x 2 persons)

= 4,000 USD per month (x 6 months)

= 24,000 USD

Equipment: 6000 USD

Laptop for high quality digital files for NFT creation.

High Quality Digital Camera for NFT and content creation.

Website and branding: 1500 USD

Total: 24,000 + 6,000 + 1500

= 31,500 USD

Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Anthony Roberts: Will be handing the B2B aspect of the business. Anthony has spent the last 9 months understanding and investing in NFTs, providing crypto workshops, and helping to deliver the first Cardano NFT event in Barcelona in collaboration with Cardano Hotel and The Art Bankers.

Personally onboarded individuals into Cardano, including helping to create Cardano NFT portfolios based on individual goals.

Has played an advisory role in several projects in the Cardano NFT ecosystem.

Currently onboarding an NFT project from ETH to Cardano.

Twitter: @gtcryptoant

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-roberts-491037155/

May Grabli: A Palestinian artist born in Jaffa. Being born in Jaffa means that May is a "48 Arab" as she does not hold a Palestinian identity card, but an Israeli one. Being a minority in her country of origin has strongly influenced her work which deals with the struggle of understanding one's identity. May has been working as an artist for the past 9 years and has many connections in the art communities both in Barcelona and Palestine.

While getting her university degree in Interactive Communications and Entrepreneurship, May began working in a ride-sharing start-up company based in Tel Aviv in which she both trained and led a large team of employees.

May will be leading the onboarding of Creators into the Cardano Ecosystem.

Twitter: @TransformingMay

Website: https://www.maygrabli.com/

In the Future will add an accountant and Marketing manager to the team.

We also have an ambition of recruiting a young professional from the Plutus pioneer program to join the agency one cash positive.

If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

No.

We will be self sustaining and cash positive within 6 months.

We have no fixed cost at this point apart from our labour.

Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Number of new artists and creators who create their first NFT through our Agency on Cardano.

Number of new businesses clients we have acquired.

Profit generated in year 1.

Growth of our social media presence.

What does success for this project look like?

24 Artists onboarded in 6 months. Created an NFT, Song, poem project etc.

6 B2B Clients actively using Cardano blockchain in their real world business models.

Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely New Proposal.